A Hamilton Film Adaptation? We’ll Have to Wait for It (for About 20 Years)

It’s been a very Lin-Manuel Miranda week here at The Mary Sue, but we’re not complaining! Yesterday, we found out that Miranda will co-star in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns. Today, we learned that the film adaptation of Miranda’s first Broadway success, In the Heights, will move forward. And now your boy’s got a profile in Rolling Stone, in which he talks the 2016 electoral race, the inspiration and intense research behind Hamilton, and when we can expect to see a Hamilton movie.

When asked by Rolling Stone if Hamilton will join In the Heights on a movie marquee anytime soon, Miranda replied “Someday. Probably not for, like, 20 years.” Although a movie is likely in the film’s future, it’s not a priority right now: “The thing is, we worked really hard to make this work as a piece of theater. And I get it – I get it 50 times a day: “Please film it! Please film it so we can watch it!” And I understand it’s hard to get to New York and it’s hard to get a Broadway ticket. At the same time, filming is an act of translation. It is not being in the room with us. It’s different. You will get the forest, you will not get the trees.”

Right now, he says it’s his responsibility is to get as many people in the room where it happens as possible: “Prioritize kids for whom it will make a difference in their grades and lives. So that’s why we have this educational initiative that has 20,000 kids seeing it this year alone, and we’re replicating that program with our two national tours that are coming out within the year. We’re starting to cast the Chicago production right now. And again, it’s about getting people in the room to see the actual thing. And then there will be translations and adaptations, and that’s fine. I’m still waiting on the Wicked movie, man!”

He also explained that he feels theater adaptations are the most successful when they take their time transitioning to the screen, citing movies like Cabaret and Chicago.

I’m glad to see conversations about theater accessibility happening, and I appreciate how a smash-hit like Hamilton has helped remind people that theater shouldn’t just be for the privileged few. Miranda is doing everything he can do to bring Hamilton to a diverse audience, and that makes me optimistic—both for the future of live theater, and for any movie adaptations we might get of Hamilton way down the line.